In brief: Driver hospitalized after crashing into tree

A Spirit Lake man was critically injured Monday evening when the car he was driving went off the road and hit a tree, according to Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies.

Patrick Schilling, 33, was taken to Kootenai Medical Center after the 7:20 p.m. accident at the intersection of North Newman Drive and West Liberty Drive.

He was in fair condition Tuesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

He was driving a Chevy S-10 Blazer when he went off the road. The accident is under investigation, and deputies said they are looking at the possibility of alcohol consumption being a factor.

Crash with deputy’s vehicle injures driver, passenger

Two young men from Pendleton, Ore., were injured in Coeur d’Alene early Tuesday when their vehicle collided with a Kootenai County sheriff’s deputy vehicle.

The deputy was on the way to an emergency with lights and sirens turned on when the accident occurred at North Government Way and West Appleway Avenue at 1:37 a.m.

The driver, Kyle Martinez, 19, was headed west on Appleway in a 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass when he collided with a deputy who was southbound in a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria patrol car.

Martinez and a passenger, Ryan R. Pullen, 19, were both taken to Kootenai Medical Center, where they were treated and released, a hospital spokewoman said.

The accident is under investigation, and impairment may have been a factor in Martinez’s driving, deputies said.

Man pulled over in Oregon accused of drug possession

A Spokane man recently was arrested in Oregon with 20 pounds of marijuana.

Ryan Michael Buley, 25, was driving a 2002 Mercury Cougar when an Oregon State Police trooper stopped him about 2:16 p.m. Friday for failing to maintain a lane of travel, according to a news release.

The traffic stop at milepost 107 on U.S. Highway 97, about nine miles south of Madras, yielded 20 1/2 pounds of marijuana, police said.

Buley was booked into the Jefferson County Jail in Madras on charges of unlawful possession and delivery of marijuana and unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance. For pictures, visit www.spokesman.com/blogs/sirens.